Described as ‘Shine’ meets ‘Full Metal Jacket,’ the film is based on Chazelle’s Sundance Film Jury Award-winning short of the same title and sees Simmons portraying “a brutal jazz orchestra teacher who unloads his frustrations on a novice drummer (Teller) who begins to lose his humanity in his quest to become the core skins pounder of the top jazz orchestra in the country.”

‘Whiplash’ is set to go into production in September with Jason Reitman, Helen Estabrook, Jason Blum, and Couper Samuelson producing.